Tarsi, Wilson key Nazareth's wrestling victory over Liberty

Nazareth sophomores Trevor Tarsi and Brock Wilson revealed their poise and their tenacity before junior teammate Ricky Fornaciari trumped them both in a thrilling match-ending bout as the Blue Eagles scored a 34-25 victory over host Liberty in an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference wrestling clash Wednesday evening.

The Eagles (4-1, 4-0) led by four entering Fornaciari's bout at 170 pounds against Josh Erney, and Fornaciari dominated the whole way — except for a 10-second span late in the third period when Erney nearly victimized Fornaciari for a defensive pin that would have won the bout for the Hurricanes (5-4, 2-2).

Fornaciari regained control for a 15-0 technical fall that made the final result appear a lot more decisive than it was.

Had Tarsi and Wilson not won their bouts against their more accomplished Liberty counterparts, Liberty would have earned the win and almost certainly a crucial higher seed for the District 11 Duals.

Wilson won a 9-4 decision over state qualifier John Ritter at 138 pounds without the benefit of a takedown and gave up the only takedown of the bout to fall behind 2-0 in the first period. But two reversals and five back points proved to be the difference in taking out a senior who won 33 matches last season.

Despite having been reversed and turned in the second period on his way to a 6-2 deficit, Ritter took bottom to start the third and paid the price when he was turned for three more back points.

"I like wrestling from behind," Wilson said, "because I feel like the other guy gets more comfortable and I can like, I don't know, have more control.

"I stayed more in my game than his game, I guess."

Nazareth coach Dave Crowell was impressed.

"He's not your typical [wrestler]," Crowell said. "He wrestles his own style, just a little different from what most guys wrestle. But he is a competitor. Brock is a competitor. Anybody that would have a whole team full of Brock Wilsons would be very, very fortunate, because when he goes out to wrestle, even if it doesn't always look the prettiest, he wrestles hard and he wrestles hard to win."

Wilson's younger brother Cade then came within eight seconds of pulling off a win over Gunner Anglovich in his first varsity bout at 145. But his decision to try to ride him for the entire third period backfired when Anglovich escaped with eight seconds remaining, then scored his only takedown in overtime for a 7-5 decision.

Tarsi had set the tone earlier by avenging an earlier loss to returning state medalist Luke Werner at 106.

Like Brock Wilson, he also gave up the first takedown. But he never gave up another offensive point on his way to an 8-4 decision. Tarsi took down Werner in the third period and then turned him twice for a total of five back points.

By the time Fornaciari took the mat against Erney, all he had to do was avoid a major decision or worse. But as he tried to turn Erney toward the end of the bout, he almost pinned himself and then momentarily seemed to lose control as the crowd came to life.

"I was hoping he wouldn't get pinned," Crowell said. "I didn't think he would, but anything can happen. I was fairly confident that he was going to come out on top of that thing, but you never know.

"I would have liked to have rather seen the guy on his belly and we're on top. That would have been a lot more relaxing."

For Liberty, Kyle Gildner used a takedown at the buzzer ending the first period, an escape at the buzzer ending the second (following a restart with 1.9 seconds remaining) and a late four-point move to turn a tight bout against Walter Ortiz into an 11-4 decision at 285 to give his team early momentum.

But Tarsi stole it right back in the next bout, giving the short-handed Eagles, who were forced to forfeit at 195 because of a wrist injury that has sidelined Connor Williams, a chance.